Negativland BY NEGATIVLAND David: Boy I'm the stupidest thing that ever happened...yeah, I'm gonna choke now, yah hah hah hah... Mark: How would you explain what we're doing? David: Well unfortunately it's insulting...I think it's like sound effects. But 1 like that because it's got all that electronic stuff in it. It isn't just plain sounds. Mark: What do you mean?! It's much more than that. It's definitely music. David: I don't mean to be insulting. With this new record we've progressed beyond...well, it doesn't always follow the definition of music. Mark: Your definition, David. Ian: We've performed live about ten times now... Mark: Yes but we've also been on the air for about 85 hours total since July of '81 as part of a radio program on KPFA called "Over the Edge." We use live instruments, tapes, records, carts, noise, and input from callers. Ian: Jamming... Mark: Yeah. For the listeners at home using their telephones the show is an open circuit for them to interact creatively with the radio. This idea of "Receptacle Programming" is one of the show's strongest points. We should be releasing a "Best of..." collection from the show in a few months. David: I want to get on the satellite and make the whole country think differently. Mark: I don't know if that's possible, but there's something about hearing what we do on the radio that makes it work for lots of different people who would never listen to our records. David: But then we might make more people open to different kinds of ideas, and not just ours of course. Mark: So what about our politics? David: I think of it in a very general sort of way because I don't understand much of what's going on. How should 1 put it? I've always had an uneasy feeling about going into stores, and shopping and getting along with people in general. Especially here in Contra Costa County. I hear things about the increase of the Ku Klux Klan out here... Ian: And it's getting all polluted and urbanized. Mark: Our childhood dream of suburbia is dead. David: And the weather gets real hot. The weather plays an important part of how I think people are...it seems to me that everybody within reach of the coastal fog is more "hip," if you will, or I don't know what...but they seem more interesting. But when you get out of reach of the coastal fog, like into Contra Costa County for instance, then people aren't that way. Mark: What about the east coast? David: Well on the east coast you've got humidity in the air. I think moisture in the air...out here it gets so dry it makes people crazy. It never stays 58 degrees out here. Mark: You'd better explain that one. David: 58 degrees is the best temperature to have sex. Mark; I know, but what does that have to do with... David: It's all connected. Having sex, 58 degrees, and being creative. There's a higher O.P.M. rate on the coasts and more marijuana busts. I'm probably all wrong, but who knows... Mark: So what does all this have to do with negativland? David: I really think that, whether you like it or not, we're all driven by our sexual feelings. Mark: Yeah, well that's...I mean that's pretty—- David: But that's too bad, darn it. I wish I could be creative without that being attached...it's like it's got me. It's like a religion. Mark: I wish you'd relate this more to negativland...Now what about your new Frank Luther records? David: Well, I really like the idea of having somebody to tell me to clean up and get rid of my dirt. Buying that record is the best thing that ever happened to me, because I'm really fussy about dirt and germs and I just never thought I'd hear anything like it. Mark: We all grew up listening to those records, so how do you think they affected us? David: They made it seem that anything can be possible...because I like the idea that you can be playing a harmonica and you're going to go back into your house that's burning because a pain caught it on fire. The idea that this pain can be chasing somebody and then it runs back into the house and burns up and of course the old lady is saved and now she can play "Home Sweet Home" on Happy the Harmonica...listening to those records is like being in another dimension. Mark: Yeah, well you talk about that, and your anti-sex attitude and 58 degrees, and then I know that you've made the Booper into a vibrator. David: Well, of course! Mark: What do you mean, "of course"?! David: Why not?...I have a little basic knowledge of electronics, so I decided to see if the Booper could make alternating current at 115 volts. And it did! It lit up a light bulb. So, I thought: How would that be to run a vibrator? And I was able to make it oscillate at just the right frequency. Mark: So your vibrator was booping? David: It actually sounded like a speaker, it was very loud in the coil windings. I ruined a vibrator doing that. The Booper oscillated at too high a frequency and the windings shorted out and the vibrator started smoking and then stopped completely. Mark: What about the Booper? . David: I guess I wanted to impress everybody at my high school that I'm not just "The Weatherman." This was before it was contained in a box. I had all these wires, and all of a sudden these funny sounds would come out. They'd say "alright, the Weatherman is going into 'oscerations' again!" Mark: That sounds like when I used to run around Concord High School with my portable electric bullhorn and shout at people. David: I started doing things at about age 13. I had my little AM radio with six speakers attached to it and I did things with feedback and Monkees records, and it progressed from there. Mark: What do you see your role in the group as? David: I supply you with raw input and my voice and you deal with them. You're the master processor. You and lan seem to know how to do it best at this point. Mark: What's interesting to me is how I've sort of hidden behind your personality in the records and interviews. David: Well, you're the behind-the-scenes person that makes this group and this thing called David Wills all function as negativland. Mark: Umm... David: And here it is, functioning right now...you know I was drunk when we edited the first album. Mark: Don't say that. That's against the code... negativland is various combinations of Mark Hosier, lan Allen, David Wills, Peter Dayton, and Chris Grigg. Write to them at Box 54, Concord, CA 94522, or order their two (soon to be three) albums from Systematic, 729 Heinz Ave. #1, Berkeley, CA 94710.